Pažaislis Music Festival will welcome Anykščiai audiences for the first time by introducing the Kaunas State Choir, celebrating its 55th anniversary this season.
One of the most prestigious ensembles representing Lithuanian culture, with exceptional sound quality and a very wide repertoire, the Kaunas Kaunas State Choir will invite music lovers to a concert of sacred choral music commemorating the 155th anniversary of the birth of the patriarch of Lithuanian music, Juozas Naujalis, and the 90th anniversary of his death.
Naujalis was a composer, organist, choir conductor, pedagogue, musician and public figure who did many meaningful things for the history of our music culture: he founded the first music school, organised the first song festival, established the first Lithuanian bookstore, was the first to publish a music magazine, and was the first Lithuanian professor of music. His music is based on the principles of classical harmony, and his music is based on simple means of expression, songful and romantic. The Kaunas State Choir will introduce the Anykščiai audience to a wide range of Naujalis’s works: masses in honour of the Most Sacred Wounds of Jesus, the hymn Prayer for the Homeland, motets In monte olivetti and Seniores populi, and secular songs such as Youth Song, Song Song of Songs, Summer Nights, Behind the Raseiniai on the Dubysa, and others. The wonderful acoustics of the Anykščiai Church will harmoniously blend the voices of the Kaunas State Choir singers and the beautiful and spiritual music of J. Naujalis.

The project “Pažaislis Music Festival presents Kaunas State Choir in Anykščiai” is funded by Anykščiai District Municipality.